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The R142A cars were built by Kawasaki at Kobe, Hyōgo, Japan with final assembly performed at Kawasaki Railcar Corp.'s American Facilities located at Lincoln, NE, USA & Yonkers, NY, USA from 1999 through 2004, and have many of the same features as the R142, built by Bombardier. The 400 R142A cars of the main order are numbered 7211-7610; the 120 option cars are numbered 7611-7730. Eighty cars, built under supplemental contract R142S, were built by Kawasaki in 2003-04 to supplement the R142As. They are numbered as 7731-7810. They are mechanically and physically identical to all other R142As, and are considered part of the R142A fleet.

The first ten R142A cars numbered 7211-7220 were delivered in December 1999. Regular service began on the 6 train on July 10, 2000 after several months of testing. The cars maintained at the Jerome Yard run on the 4 while the cars maintained at the Westchester Yard run on the 6.

Cars 7211-7430 have been or are being overhauled with CBTC and are now R188s. Cars 7431-7590 will also be overhauled with CBTC and converted to R188s in the near future.[3][4][5][6]

A total of 380 R142As are scheduled to be converted into R188s for Flushing LineCBTC service. The remaining 220 cars will remain unconverted for the time being.

The R142A car ends consist of a single fiberglass piece, while the front consists of two separate portions, one fiberglass and one stainless on the R142.

The LCD destination signs and LED interior passenger information signs on the R142 turn-off when changing, while the ones on the R142A switch without turning off.

R142 cars have a dot-matrix LCD route number display and mosaic LCD destination on the side destination signs, while R142A cars have a mosaic LCD for both the route and destination on the side destination signs.

The interior LED displays on R142s have a white border and are closer to the ceiling than the R142A/R188's light grey-bordered displays.

The interior red door indicator lights on R142s are directly above the doors near its corners and point downwards towards the floor while the R142A's interior red door indicator lights are located just to the left and right of the doors and point towards the opposite wall.

The flashing orange closing door lights are slightly larger on the R142s.

The car end lexan glass windows open through a few tiny screws on R142s compared to the keyhole on the R142As.

The R142 and R142A utilize different truck designs. The R142 utilizes Bombardier trucks while the R142A utilizes Kawasaki trucks.[12][13][14]

The two cars have different HVAC systems. The R142's HVAC is noticeably louder.

R142A cars contain two more advertising panels than R142 cars.

The front windows on the R142s are less abruptly curved than the R142As.

The windows on the front doors of the R142As are smaller than those on the front doors of the R142s.

The door handles on the car end doors leading from one car to another are different on the R142s and R142As.

The numbers on the R142A's cars are in Akzidenz-Grotesk font while those on the R142 cars are in New York City's traditional Helvetica lettering.